Robert Jeffress - If Christ Has Not Been Raised
Hi, I'm Robert Jeffress and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. For 1.000s of years, skeptics have been trying to prove that the resurrection of Jesus never really happened, that it was nothing more than a made-up story or a clever trick. Their motive is clear. Because if the resurrection was a hoax, then all of Christianity falls apart. Today, we're going to look at two reasons the apostle Paul gives for being confident that Jesus truly rose from the grave. My message is titled, "If Christ has not been raised", on today's edition of Pathway to Victory.
Someone has said that Christianity stands or falls on the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Disprove it, and you have disposed of Christianity forever. Indeed, if the resurrection is nothing more than a mythical appendage, to the story of a good rabbi who was popular and yet crucified by his enemies, if that's all the resurrection is, then it simply has rendered the Christian message null and void. There is no hope for any of us. And that's Paul's argument, in the chapter that we come to in our study of 1 Corinthians 15. If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn there, as we look at the consequences of what it means for us if Christ has not been raised from the dead.
And remember, Paul wrote this letter to the church at Corinth, to answer questions that they'd asked him. In fact, they had sent him a letter with all kinds of questions. It was kind of like, we have asked the pastor, let's ask the apostle. And they had a whole list of questions. We don't have a copy of the letter the Corinthians sent to Paul, but we have a copy of Paul's response in 1 Corinthians. And by the responses, we can pretty well determine what the questions were. "The Corinthians wanted to know, Paul, what should we know about divorce and remarriage? What about spiritual gifts? What about the role of women in the church? What about suing other Christians? What about the Lord's table"? All of these questions they had, Paul answers in 1 Corinthians. And when we come to chapter 15, Paul is going to answer the questions they had about the resurrection.
You see, in the church at Corinth, there were some Jewish converts who had come from the sect known as the Sadducees. The Sadducees did not believe in any resurrection because they believed in no afterlife. And so they had questions about all of this stuff about resurrection. And then you add the gnostics. Gnosticism, as we've talked about on Sunday morning, was present at that time in Paul's ministry. And remember the gnostics said that only that which is spiritual is good. Anything that is material, fleshly, is evil. So their whole question of the resurrection is, even if it was true, why would we want it to be true? Why would we want to inherit bodies for all eternity that are sinful? Because the body is sinful, they said.
And so Paul is answering these questions about the resurrection, and his point is very simple. He says the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead means that one day, we will rise from the dead as well. And so Paul begins in verse one of 1 Corinthians 15, talking about the case for the resurrection. How do we know Christ was really raised from the dead? He says first of all, look at the evidence of scripture, beginning in verse one, Paul writes, "Now I make known to you, brethren, the Gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand, by which you were saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain".
Paul said, we're gonna do a little review of what the Gospel is. It's the Gospel, Paul says, by which you are saved. And it's the Gospel "Which you were saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless", of course, "you believed in vain". People stumble over that and they said, well is Paul saying our salvation is conditioned upon our continuing to believe? That's what he says in verse two. You're saved by the Gospel "If you hold fast to the word I preached to you". Is our salvation conditioned upon our continued belief in the Gospel? I would say it's just the opposite. Our continued belief in the Gospel is conditioned upon our genuine salvation.
See the fact is, the security of the believers is a very true doctrine. But it only applies to those who are truly saved. Assurance of salvation only applies to those who are truly saved. Paul is saying that, if you are truly saved, you will believe until the very end. And if you don't believe until the very end, it doesn't mean you lost your salvation, it means that you never had it to begin with. One of the tests of whether you've been genuinely saved or not is if you continue to believe until the end. That's what he's saying in verse two here. Paul says, "Let's remember what this Gospel is". Look at verse three, "For I delivered to you as a first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day, according to the scriptures".
Here is the summary of the Christian message. Christ died for our sins, he was buried and he rose again on the third day, all as the scripture foretold. Now by scripture, he is primarily at this time, talking about the Old Testament scripture. Obviously the epistles had not been written yet. And there were perhaps several Gospels that had been penned at this point. But he's primarily talking about the Old Testament scriptures. For example, the Old Testament scripture prophesied that the Messiah, Jesus Christ, would die for our sins. Jot down Isaiah 53, verses three through 12. You know that passage well. For "He was wounded for our transgression, he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastening of our well-being fell upon him". By his stripes, we are healed. For all we are like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone into his own way but the Lord has laid upon him, Jesus the Messiah, the iniquity of us all.
The scripture foretold 700 years before the fact, in Isaiah and many other passages, that Christ would die for our sins. Secondly, he was buried just as the scriptures said, in Isaiah 53:9, 700 years before the case. Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would be buried in the tomb of a rich man. And thirdly, he was raised from the dead, according to the scripture. Paul is saying the resurrection was central to the Old Testament prophecies. You say where do you find the resurrection in the Old Testament? In Psalms 16:10. The Psalmist said, speaking the words that the Messiah would ultimately speak, "For you will not abandon my soul to sheol, nor will you allow your holy one", the Messiah, "To undergo decay". That is, before the Messiah's body could decay, the Lord will raise it up.
Or Job 19:25-26, remember what Job said? "As for me, I know that my redeemer lives, and that on the last, he will take his stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I will see God". Job understood that the resurrection was a central part of the Messiah's message. The resurrection was also a part of Jesus' teaching as well. This isn't something that was tacked on to the Gospel story. It wasn't something that the apostles made up to make a good story even better. Jesus said that he would be raised from the dead. In Matthew 16:21, Matthew says, "From that point on, Jesus began to show his disciples how he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and how he must be killed, and raised up on the third day".
Jesus taught that there was a resurrection. Remember, "destroy this temple", Jesus said, "And after three days it will be raised up". You know what is interesting is, even Jesus' enemies understood that the resurrection was central to Jesus' claim. Remember what happened after good Friday when Jesus was crucified? Remember how he was buried in the rich man, Joseph of Arimathea's tomb? Remember what happened on that Saturday? On that Saturday, Jesus' enemies, the pharisees, who had been responsible for his crucifixion, began to panic and they went to Pontius Pilate. And remember in Matthew 27:63-64, they went to Pilate and said, "Sir, we remember that when Jesus was still alive that deceiver said, 'after three days, I am to rise again'. Therefore, Pilate, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise his disciples may come and steal him away and say to the people, 'he has risen from the dead', and the last deception will be worse than the first".
Those enemies of Jesus understood what he had claimed was going to happen. They wanted to make sure that grave was secure, which is why they posted that Roman guard unit of 16 highly trained men to guard that tomb. They didn't want to give credence to the claim that Jesus had been raised from the dead. Paul said the resurrection of Jesus is proven by the evidence of scripture, but also, secondly, by the evidence of eyewitnesses. You know the testimony of eyewitnesses has long been considered one of the most reliable forms of evidence.
Thomas Arnold, a historian at Oxford University wrote, "I know of no one fact in the history of mankind, which is better proved by fuller evidence than the great sign that God has given us that Christ died and rose again from the dead". What would cause such an educated historian to say there is nothing in human history better proved than the resurrection of Jesus from the dead? It is the strength of the eyewitness testimony. It's that eyewitness testimony that Paul describes, beginning in verse five. He says, "And that he, Jesus, appeared to Peter". The first person Christ appeared to, after his resurrection, was to Peter.
Now remember, Peter had denied the Lord three times just a few days earlier. And yet, Jesus had selected Peter to be the leader of the apostles, and it only made sense that the first person he would appear to would be Peter. And that appearance transformed Peter forever. It gave him the courage to be a bold defender of the Christian faith, to be willing to give his life for Christ, because of what he had seen in the resurrection of Christ. How do you explain that metamorphosis that occurred in Peter? The only way to describe it is that he had seen the resurrected Christ. And not only did he appear to Peter, but also to the 12.
Now that's a reference to the apostles. Now literally, when Christ rose from the dead, there weren't 12 apostles. There were only 11. Remember, Judas had already hanged himself. And Matthias had yet to be selected. But the 12 was the title that they went by. So, he appeared to the 12. And then after that, verse six, "He appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time, most of all who remained, that is, they're alive until now but some have fallen asleep". That is, they have died. Jesus Christ appeared to 500 people at one time. We don't know the circumstances of that appearance but Paul said that those people to whom he appeared are well-known, some of them are still alive, although some of them had died, 20 years after this appearance.
You know every now and then, you ever stand at the supermarket in line, and kinda look at those tabloid magazines? I confess, okay, I confess some of them grab my attention every now and then. You know, the cover of them. Every now and then in some of the lesser known publications you'll read some of these fantastic stories. Have you see those, every now and then they crop up? Elvis has been sighted! He's back in Memphis, somebody saw him at a Walmart or a McDonald's, you know. Elvis has come back to life again. Has anybody ever really fallen for that? Has anybody really believed Elvis is alive? I mean, is there a movement right now that is based on the fact that Elvis Presley is alive? I mean, are people willing to give their life for the fact that Elvis Presley is still alive and well and singing in Memphis?
I don't know anybody who would do that. There's people who hope he's alive. But if it came down to it, does anybody really, would they be willing to give their life for that fact? I mean you hear occasionally people say that. But on the other hand, what if 500 people all said, "We saw Elvis Presley, we saw him here". And not only that, it was 500 people, many of whom you had great respect for. It's 500 people who say, "We believe this so much, we are willing to die for this". That would cause you to think again, wouldn't it? About whether Elvis Presley was alive or not.
Here are people who absolutely said, that they believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ was alive. Not only that, he appeared to James. James was the half brother of Jesus. So how did Jesus have a half brother? Well, it was through Mary and Joseph. Mary and Joseph had many other children. You know, they had them the old fashion way, okay. And that made them the half brothers and sisters of Jesus. James was a skeptic. He turned away from the Lord. He didn't believe his half brother was the Lord, until Jesus appeared to him in his resurrected form, and James became one of the leaders of the early church. He wrote the epistle we have in our New Testament, called James.
And "Then he appeared to all of the apostles". And not only that "and last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared to me also", Paul said. One untimely born. That is, I was born too late to be an apostle but Jesus appeared to me in his resurrected form. Not immediately after the resurrection, but weeks later, when I was on the road to Damascus. Jesus had already ascended into heaven, but he appeared to Paul and spoke to Paul and called him as an apostle. You know it's interesting the sense of humility that the apostle Paul had about that. You would think Paul would be boastful and prideful about his call to be an apostle, the Lord speaking to him directly.
But look at verse nine, and "For I am the least of all of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace toward me did not prove vain. But I labored even more than all of them yet not I but the grace of God with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and you believed". Paul never got over the fact that God had forgiven him. Paul had formerly been a blasphemer, a persecutor, a killer of Christians. I'm sure Paul was haunted by the things he had done in the past. And yet Paul said, "God forgave me".
In fact, in 1 Timothy 1:15-16, Paul said, "It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am the foremost of all. And yet for this reason, I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost of sinners, Jesus Christ might demonstrate his perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life". Paul was saying, "I am exhibit a of God's ability to forgive". When people say to me, "Oh pastor, God could never forgive me. You don't know what I have done. You don't know the sin I've been involved in. God couldn't forgive me, I'm too great a sinner". I always respond, "You're not as good of a sinner as you think you are".
I can tell you of somebody who was much better at sinning than you ever could think of being. It was the apostle Paul. He was the chief of sinners. And yet God saved him as exhibit a of his grace and his willingness to forgive anyone. For some of you listening tonight, you think you're beyond the reach of God's forgiveness, you're not. If God can forgive Paul, he can forgive anyone. Now Paul moves from the abstract to the concrete, from the theoretical to the intensely practical, as he talks about the consequences of no resurrection. He's proved the resurrection, by the testimony of scripture, by the eyewitness testimony, and now he talks about the consequences of no resurrection. Look in verse 12, he says "Now if Christ is preached, that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there's no such thing as a resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has not been raised".
Now, as Dave Ramsey would say, this isn't rocket surgery here, okay. What he's saying is, if there is no such thing as a resurrection, as some of you seem to think, if this life is all there is, then that means Jesus Christ has not been raised from the dead. And before you say that, consider the consequences of no resurrection. And beginning here, Paul begins to talk about the consequences of no resurrection from the dead. Now remember again, there were some who said, "We do believe in the resurrection, but we think it's a spiritual resurrection". You have some liberal theologians today who believe that. "Oh yeah, we believe in a resurrection, but Jesus was spiritually raised from the dead. And one day, we are spiritually raised from the dead".
That all comes from gnosticism. They believe that Jesus couldn't be flesh and blood. Because to be flesh and blood would be to be sinful. Because the flesh is naturally sinful. No, it's not our bodies that are sinful in and of themselves, it's because we've been infected with the sin virus that we're sinful. But Jesus Christ was blood and flesh. He ate, he drank, he was born of a woman: Galatians four, verse four says. In 1 John, 1:1, John said, "What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands concerning the word of life". He said, we've touched it, the word of life, Jesus. We know he is real. He is flesh and blood.
You say, well why does that make a difference whether Jesus Christ was flesh and blood? Because it means, among other things, that God, in-dwelling flesh, means that God understands us. He understands you, not just intellectually, he understands you experientially. There's no heartache, there is no trial you face, that God doesn't understand and sympathize with, because he's also experienced it. Hebrews 4:15-16, "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who was tested in all points as we are, and yet without sin. Therefore, let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we might receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of need".
When you're going through a trial in your life right now, you can go to God, you can ask for his mercy and his grace, knowing that he understands exactly what you're going through. Because he's experienced it in the person of Jesus Christ. What is the consequence of no resurrection? First of all, if there is no resurrection, first of all, Christ is not risen from the dead. If there is no resurrection, then Christ is not risen from the dead. And that is very simple. But not only that, secondly preaching is useless. Look at verse 14, "And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain". That is our preaching, the Bible is nothing more than an Aesop fable, if in fact there is no resurrection of the dead. If some of it can't be trusted, none of it can be trusted. Everything we say in a sermon is in vain.
Thirdly, if there is no resurrection and Christ has not been raised from the dead, faith is meaningless. Look at verse 14, "And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, and your faith is also in vain". That so called faith you exercise to become a Christian, that was just an emotion. That faith that sustained you in a time of trial in your life, that was just a sham. That faith that gave you comfort in the loss of a loved one, that was just your imagination. Paul says, if there is no resurrection, your faith is meaningless. It's in vain. Not only that, if there is no resurrection and Christ has not been raised, all Christians are liars.
Look at verse 15, "Moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that he raised Christ, who in fact, he did not raise if in fact, the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised". If there is no resurrection and therefore Jesus has not been raised from the dead, then every one of us who has testified of that, is nothing but a liar. Now Paul's thinking especially about the apostles, like himself. Everything we've testified about, has been a lie. That means the apostles were apart of the greatest hoax that had ever been perpetrated upon mankind. They stole the body of Jesus, and then claimed he had been raised from the dead. Is that really possible?
Listen, people do not willingly die for a lie. And you say, well people die for a lie all the time. Over in the Mid East you've got these religious fanatics that are dying for a lie all the time. That's right, but they think they're dying for the truth. Nobody willingly dies for something that they know is absolutely false, and certainly not these apostles. I mean they were cowards three days before the resurrection. They had deserted Jesus like rats off a sinking ship. But then suddenly they were transformed by something that gave them the courage to die for their faith.
What was that something? They had seen the resurrection of Jesus Christ. All the apostles are liars, if there is no resurrection. Do you believe that? Doesn't mean just the apostles, it means everybody since the apostles, who has claimed a resurrection is liar. Martin Luther, John Calvin, D.L. Moody, Billy Graham, W.A. Criswell, every pastor you've every had, every Sunday School teacher. That godly mother, that godly grandparent, liars every one of 'em. Do you believe that? That is the consequence of no resurrection, all Christians are liars.
Next Paul says, "If there is no resurrection, you are still in your sins. Your faith is worthless". Verse 17, "And you are still in your sins". Why does he say that? Listen to me. The resurrection of Jesus Christ verifies two things. First of all it verifies the deity of Christ, that Jesus really was the Son of God. Romans 1:4 says, "That he was declared the Son of God with power". How? "By the resurrection from the dead according to the spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord". The resurrection was the stamp on Jesus Christ, that he really was who he claimed to be. The resurrection proves the deity of Christ but secondly, the resurrection validates the sufficiency of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, the sufficiency of Christ.
Listen to Romans 4:24-25. "But for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, he who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification". Here's what Paul says, the signal proof that Jesus Christ's death was a sufficient payment for your sins, was the fact that he was raised from the dead. Had Jesus remained in that grave, it would've meant that Jesus died for his sins, and not for our sins. But the fact that God raised him from the dead was the sign that Jesus' payment on the cross was accepted. That we had been justified, declared not guilty before God. He was delivered over for our transgressions but he was raised up for our justification. The way we know we're not guilty before God, is by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Let me explain to you how that works. Let's imagine Doran Bugg is deeply in debt. You know, it seems like you're always in debt, in problems here when I'm using you as an illustration, but let's say Doran owes $10.000 on his Visa bill. And he is so upset about it. He is moping around. He is miserable. Why, he is so upset he can barely get up and put on his shoes and socks in the morning. Well his shoes anyway, but you know, I mean he's just so miserable. And so I say, Doran, you know, I want to help you out here, so I'm gonna send in a $10.000 check to Visa and I'm gonna take care of your bill, your bill is paid in full. And he said, oh thank you pastor. That is so relieving, thank you so much.
The next month, Doran gets a bill from Visa, with some interest charges demanding payment for his $10.000 bill. So Doran calls the visa people and he says, there must be some mistake here, my pastor Dr. Jeffress sent in a check for $10.000. Did you get that check? So they do a little work, oh yes. We got Dr. Jeffress' check. Well didn't you use it to pay off my bill? Well, no, they say. We used it for the payment of his $100.000 bill he has with us. We used his money to pay his debt, not your debt.
See the only way you can pay somebody else's debt is if you're debt free. And in the same way, the only way somebody can pay for your sins, is if they're sin free. And that's the only way Jesus could pay for our sins, the only reason he could pay for our sins, is because he was sin-less. Had Jesus stayed in that grave, you know what it would've meant? It would've meant, he was paying for his own sins. But the fact that God raised him up from the dead, was God's way of saying, paid in full to you and to me. His death covered our transgressions. He was raised up for our justification. That's what he is saying here. What's the consequence of no resurrection?
Now follow me on this, if Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead, we are still in our sins. That means nobody has made a sufficient payment for our sins and therefore that means, verse 18, "Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ, have perished". That means those Christian loved ones who have gone ahead of us, have perished. That word doesn't mean just died, it's a word that means to be eternally tormented. That is to be in hell. You see if there is no resurrection, it means our sins haven't been paid for, that we face an eternity of separation from God. But it also means, every Christian we've known, who has gone ahead of us in death, is also being eternally tormented.
That means, the same fate that awaits Adolf Hitler, Osama Bin Laden, that father a few weeks ago who used an ax to murder his two little boys and then set them on fire. The same punishment that awaits people like that, awaits every apostle, every preacher, every missionary, every evangelist. Your godly parents and grandparents, every Christian you've ever known. Do you believe that? Do you believe that's what's going to happen? That we're all going to be in hell? That we're all going to be suffering eternal torment because no one has been able to pay for our sins, that is the consequence of no resurrection. If there is no resurrection, all of us are still in our sins. Not only us, but every Christian we know, who's gone before us in death. It says not only that, in verse 19, "If Christ has not been raised from the dead, our lives are miserable". Look at verse 19, "If we have hope in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied".
You know, every now and then I've heard people saying and I bet you've heard this too. Somebody who said, well if this Christianity thing turns out to be a hoax, I'm still glad I'm a Christian. Because even if there's nothing on the other side of the grave, the Christian way is the best way to live. That's not what Paul said. You know the only people that can say, well if this Christianity thing turns out not to be true I'm still glad I'm a Christian, the only people who can say that are people who've never sacrificed very much to be a Christian. Paul said, if I've gone through shipwreck and imprisonment and torture, ultimately facing beheading, and there's no payoff on the other side of the grave, it's all worthless. If I have sacrificed, given up to follow Christ and there's nothing to this message, we're of all people to be pitied most. Our life is miserable if there is no resurrection, Paul says.
But then in verse 20, he says with great confidence, "But now, Christ has been raised from the dead, he is the first fruits of those who are asleep". If Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead and he has, it means those of us who are in Christ, will be raised as well. Jesus Christ was just the first fruits, he was the sample of a great resurrection train that is marching toward heaven. And we're going to talk about that next time. But listen to what Paul and the Lord Jesus are saying, they're both saying there is a heaven and a hell. The same fate does not await everyone. And whether we spend eternity in heaven or hell, depends upon what we do with Jesus Christ in this life.
The core of the Gospel message is this, 1 Corinthians 15:3, "For Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the scripture". The Bible says all of us here tonight, all of us listening to this message, we all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. We owe God a debt that we could never pay in 10.000 lifetimes because of our sin. Somebody has to pay that sin debt. Somebody has to suffer the consequences for your sin. You can choose to suffer the consequences yourself. You can choose to live out your sentence of eternal separation from God. And you'll spend eternity trying to pay off your sin debt, and you'll never be able to do it. An eternity of hell would still not pay for your sin.
You can choose to say to God, God I want to try to pay for my sin myself, and spend eternity separated from God. Or you can choose to allow Jesus to pay that debt for you. To say, I believe that when Jesus died on the cross, he died for me. He died to pay my debt. And I am trusting in what Jesus did for me, to save me from my sins. The most important decision we ever make in our life, is the decision of what we're going to do about Jesus. Are we gonna trust him? Believe in him? Cling to him for our salvation? Have you made that decision yet? Have you trusted in Christ as your Savior?
Many of you may know the name Ray Combs, if you don't know his name, you would recognize his face. He has been a very popular game show host. And from the years of 1988 to 1994, he hosted the program The New Family Feud, on television. Did y'all ever watch Family Feud on television? Richard Dawson was the host and then Ray Combs was the host after him, the New Family Feud. Well on one episode of Family Feud, Ray Combs was hosting, and he was walking down the line of contestants from one family, talked to the father, the mother, and then he came to another family member. And this family member was wearing a pin with two question marks on it.
Now those of you who have been through evangelism explosion know what that pin is, it's a part of the E.E. program to engage people in conversation. So Ray Combs, the T.V. host asked this guy on national television. Said, hey tell me about your pin, what do those question marks stand for? The contestant said, oh well they stand for the two most important questions in life. Ray Combs said, really? Well what's the first question? The contestant said, well the question is, have you come to the place in your life that you know for sure if you were to die, you would go to heaven? And Ray Combs said, well I'm not gonna answer that on national T.V.
And he turned away and walked down the contestant line. And then he did a U-turn and went back to that same guy, he said, okay, you've got me, I've gotta know, what is the second question? The contestant said, well the second question is, if God were to ask you why should I let you into heaven, what would you say? Now he's on national T.V. Ray Combs said, I tell you what I would say to God. I would say to God, I'm the host of Family Feud and everybody loves me, that's why you should let me into heaven.
Well the audience applauded and wildly laughed and everything, and the game went on. A few years later Ray Combs was found in his small Hollywood apartment dead at the age of 40. He had hung himself. Didn't even bother to leave a note. Apparently, being the host of Family Feud wasn't enough to provide satisfaction in this life. It certainly wasn't enough to guarantee heaven in the next life. There's only one answer to that question. Why should God let you into heaven? It's because you have trusted in Jesus, and Jesus alone, for the forgiveness of your sins. Have you done that? For as many as received him, John says, to them he gave the power to become the children of God. Even to those who believe on his name.